Lise Delamare

The French-filmed Baxter is based on the American novel Hell Hound. The title character is a bull terrier, who in the course of the film has many masters--and for good reason. Baxter has been instrumental in the deaths or serious injuries of most of the human beings who've come in contact with him. The dog's latest owner is a young neo-Nazi. nd Baxter makes it quite clear (to the audience at least) what he has in store for this fellow. Don't be misled by the title or the fact that the leading character is a dog with a full range of human emotions; Baxter is not a family film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clerambard (Philippe Noiret) feeds his large family by killing cats and dogs. He also makes his family run hand looms with very little respite. His life forever changes when he sees Saint Francis. The Saint helps him prepare his horse as Clerambard suddenly goes out into the world to preach the gospel and reveal his newfound love of animals. This comedy is taken from the hit play by Marcel Ayme. Dany Carrel has an amusing role as the town prostitute. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Martine Carol plays the title character in the comedy melodrama Nathalie. The heroine is a professional model who becomes innocently mixed up in a robbery/murder case. Deciding to play detective, Nathalie leads both the authorities and the underworld on a merry chase. She also wins the heart of police inspector Franck (Michel Piccoli), who does his best to shield her from the evil machinations of criminal mastermind Coco (Philippe Clay). A big hit in France, Nathalie also did quite well in the U.S. under the title Foxiest Girl in Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Max Ophuls' final film (and his only movie in color) is a cinematic tour-de-force masquerading as a biography, in this case a dazzling fictionalized life of the notorious 19th century dancer, actress, and courtesan. A still beautiful, but weary and disillusioned (and, as we later discover, ailing) Lola Montes (Martine Carol) is first seen as the featured attraction at a seedy American circus, appearing at the center of a series of various tableaux depicting the scandalous events for which she is known. With a strangely sincere yet sinister and manipulative ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) providing color commentary, some of it very ironic on two or more levels, the movie flows between these staged recreations in the circus and the events as recalled by the subject. In a series of dissolves, the film takes us through her girlhood with her mother, interrupted when her mother's lover (Ivan Desni) becomes attached to the daughter; her unhappy marriage and its aftermath; romances with composer Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg), abduction by a Russian general (in the arms of Cossacks, no less); her affairs across the landscape of Europe with men great and notable; her thwarted aspirations as a dancer; and her romance with King Ludwig I (Anton Walbrook) of Bavaria, which led to her being made Countess of Landsfeld, and, later, to his abdication. The gracefulness of Ophuls' cyclical narrative, and the transitions between the recalled elegance of the locales, and the people with whom her romances and affairs took place, and the seediness of the circus -- where she is also compelled, in the course of performing, to perform as an aerialist -- were lost on viewers in 1955. And for many years the movie only existed in a version re-cut without the director's approval, in which the story was presented in linear fashion. It was only in the 1960's, long after Ophuls' death, that efforts were made to restore the original structure, and in 2008 the movie's original Technicolor luster was restored to its full depth and richness. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Pierre Fresnay stars as St. Vincent De Paul in this reverent but realistic French biopic. The film traces "Monsieur Vincent's" progress from his days of forced servitude in Algiers to his entry into the priesthood, culminating with his Herculean efforts on behalf of the ill and destitute in early 17th-century France. Featured in the huge cast are Aime Clairimond as Cardinal de Richelieu and Germaine Dermoz as Queen Anne of Austria. Made under the most trying of conditions over a two-year period, Monsieur Vincent remains the chef d'ouevre of director Maurice Cloche. The film won France's Grand Prix award in 1947, and the following year was honored with Hollywood's "best foreign picture" Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean Renoir's epic account of the French Revolution juxtaposes the opulent life of King Louis XVI with the poverty of the commoners who rose up to overthrow the monarchy in 1789. The film's title comes from the rallying song which grew out of the peasants' march on the Bastille, the song that ultimately became the French national anthem. Filmed with a cast of thousands, the focus is on two members of a large volunteer battalion who help the revolutionary army in its takeover of the Tulleries, which resulted in the publication of the Brunswick Manifesto and ultimately led to King Louis' downfall. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide